Sensing the Sonic: Histories of Hearing Differently (1800-now)

– 15 June – 16 June 2018, University of Cambridge –

A two-day conference convened and organised by Melissa van Drie and Melle Kromhout, hosted by the Centre for Research in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (CRASSH).

What happens when hearing doesn’t do what it purportedly should?  

Often hearing and sound are predominately considered from an ear-centric perspective. We will explore alternatives to this singular ear, engaging various historical, theoretical and methodological positions. Putting forward an exploratory format, participants will ignite discussions that challenge notions of embodied presence and investigate different materials and research strategies for hearing differently from the 19th century to the present. How can we reconsider the modalities and practices of the sensing body (human and non human, disabled or augmented)? How can we address the particularities of the material event of sound itself? How can we think about the sorts of energetic and ‘presencing’ spaces that sound produces? 

Panel One

Douglas Kahn (University of New South Wales, Sydney)
Sound as One Energy Among Others

Seth Kim-Cohen (School of the Art Institute of Chicago)
The First Annual Convocation of the Shallow Listening Institute

Nina Eidsheim (UCLA)
Using Ankhrasmation Theory to Listen Differently

Holger Schulze (University of Copenhagen)
Idiosyncrasies, Corporealities, Situatedness: Three Memos for Sound In The 22nd Century

Panel Two

Edward Gillin (University of Cambridge)
Aural accuracies: scientific and musical authorities in the question of Victorian pitch

Zeynep Bulut (Queen’s University Belfast)
Voicing Infrasound 
– no audio available –

Gascia Ouzounian (University of Oxford)
Powers of Hearing: Acoustic Defense during the First World War
– no audio available –

Matthieu Saladin (Université Paris 8 / Labex Arts-H2H)
Capturing the inaudible

Panel Three

Jonathan Sterne (McGill University)
Sonic Time as a Plastic Art: The Springer Pitch and Time Regulator

Mara Mills (New York University)
Words per Minute: Speed Listening in the 1970s

Sander van Maas (University of Amsterdam)
Listening Culture and Book Concepts

Aleks Kolkowski (Artist / Independent researcher)
Filtered Hearing
(Aleks Kolkowski unfortunately had to cancel. His sound object was presented by Melissa van Drie)

Panel Four

David Trippett (University of Cambridge)
Hearing the Animal Sensorium

Bastien Gallet (Haute École des Arts du Rhin)
Listening with the Bugs

Melissa Dickson (University of Birmingham)
Measuring the Limits of Human Hearing: The Galton Whistle

Julian Henriques (Goldsmith University)
The Sonic Womb

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This event happened in relation to the international conference ‘The Audible Spectrum: Sound Studies, Cultures of Listening and Sound Art‘ (7-9 June 2018 in Paris), convened by Stéphane Roth and Marion Platevoet (Cité de la musique-Philharmonie de Paris), Bastien Gallet (Haute École des Arts du Rhin), and Matthieu Saladin (Université Paris 8).